I too wish that were true.
But if by ‘still’ you mean based on last season, then it’s not even remotely true.
Fingers crossed last year was an aberration for Hurls, but if it wasn’t, then Ambrose/Hurley/Gleeson as a combo is not going to be enough to stop some forward lines.
Still having nightmares watching Hurley get smashed by Sinclair in the final last year, then watch Sinclair spud it up the week after against Geelong.
The North Melbourne game was pretty bad too
Argh. Sinclair, Towers (and Buddy) destroyed Ambo, Hurls and Hartley, who generally failed to compete with them in the air. It only took one quarter. After that they wrapped Buddy in cotton wool for the next week. ( not that it did them much good, because they were as bad the week after as we were .)
Buddy is unstoppable when he is on. Just ask Liam Jones, the champion Carlton Full Back, who “held” Buddy to 10 goals the week before.
Unsure if:
-Hurley has just trimmed down as a result of reduced weights training due to two post-season surgeries, still looking to play as a “true” KPD
I think Hurls is a good one-on-one defender usually (debut against Tredrea, anyone?), he was not good at them last year overall by his standards, possibly due to the year out and some weight loss.
I think Hartley will be needed against most sides to cover the beanpole forwards/rucks, by all reports he is showing improvement during the pre-season.
Ambrose is a fantastic lockdown defender but obviously needs to tidy up his disposal.
I’m not as high on Brown as some others here, I see him as (handy) depth only.
Will be interested to see how the KPDs are structured during the season, along with the development of Gleeson, and whether McNiece overtakes Baguley over the course of the season as the lockdown back pocket. Of course, can’t wait to see Irish and Saad burn people off halfback.
That Hurley bloke might be ok too.
Wait… you reckon Hartley is a better one-on-one player than Hurley?
I agree that Hurley’s defensive play has suffered as he’s sought to be more attacking, but there is still a massive gulf between the two in that regard IMO.
Hurley should stick to exactly what he is doing. Most of our attacking plays started with him getting the ball, sure playing the way he is costs us goals at times, but he generates a hell of a lot more goals then he gives away.
The key is team defense, Hooker would obviously make a massive difference, but robbing Peter to pay Paul is not the answer either IMHO. We really need someone who can lock down on the dangerous monsters. Hopefully the likes of Hartly, and Ambros can continue to improve. Plus a more cohesive team defense, will also make a big difference.
I think Ambrose’s disposal is fine (neat, if you will), it’s just he isn’t very creative with it. He looked to be trying to improve that aspect a bit last year (especially before he was injured) and while he didn’t suddenly become some offensive beast it was a noticeable attempt at improving his game if you looked at it. He just needs to continue to work on it as his defensive side is already high quality.
Hurley AA. Come on now.
I’ve seen an improvement in Ambrose’s kicking already this preseason.
He has had a tendency in the past to kick too high in both short and long kicks, but it’s been noticeable to me that he is kicking with a lower trajectory and punching the ball more, particularly on shorter kicks.
He also seems to be getting the ball from hand to foot a little quicker.
I think Ambrose is one of those players that will be constantly working on his game, and you will continue to see a series of small incremental improvements.
That’s good to hear, my major knock on him has been his kicking, there were games I’d swear he would be lucky to kick it 40 meters when he is hoofing it, such is the height
I would hate to see an alternate reality where we didn’t have Hurley last season.
The ball would never have left our defensive half and we would have got smacked by ten goals every week.
He was critical to our game plan.
Hurley Hartley and Ambrose are all best 22 and complement eachother brilliantly.
Hurley will be playing the 3rd tall intercept weapon that he is. Can match up on anyway, and likely will take the weakest tallish player.
Hartley will take the gorillas. Jenkins, Hawkins etc
Ambrose will take the best running key forwards. Franklin, Lynch, Gunston etc
I can’t see anyone displacing any of these 3 from our 22.
Definite improvement. In the drill I observed from nearby where the players kicked under “pressure” to a player leading to the flank about 40 meters away I would have ranked the group as follows:
As I said, based on last year, clearly yes imo. Hartley protected Hurley from being further embarrassed by real opponents all of last year. Hurley was the AA CHB without taking a single genuine scalp all season.
Based on every other year of Hurley’s career, it’s not even a contest. Let’s hope that returns.
Hurley finished third for intercept possessions behind Lever and Rance.
Intercept possessions are the most valuable stat for a defender because it means it’s taking the ball away from the opposition and allows you to set up your attack.
He also finished twelfth for metres gained which tells me he was moving the ball direct.
He had an elite season and was rightly awarded AA. He’s the second best defender in the game and he’s adapting his game to run with how modern footy is played and he did that off the back of having 12 months out of the game.
Appreciate him while we have him. He’s a gun.
I do like Hartley, but I think we are more attacking and dangerous with Gleeson in the team and if we have a gorilla on the loose who we can’t contain, then Hooker comes back and we can dominate in defense.
This will work best if Stewart takes it up a notch and Stringer is effective as a tall forward.
I also think we are less at risk of being too tall and slow if we only have one of Hartley and Hooker in the side, and that one is no contest at this point.
If Hurley is fitter he’ll get to more contests which is great for us.